Rock Mechanics

PRINCESS NINFA M.
MACAILING
BSCE 2A
Rock Mechanics
1. What is rock mechanics?

- It is a branch of mechanics concerned with the response of rock and rock masses to
the force fields of their physical environment.
- Discipline that uses the principles of mechanics to describe the behaviour of rock on
engineering scale.
2. What are the scope of rock mechanics? Explain each scope.

- Civil Engineering: Evaluation of geological hazards, selection of construction
materials and selection and layout of construction site.
- Mining Engineering: Analysis stability, design of blasting operation, and design of
support systems.
- Petroleum Engineering: Design of instrumentation program and evaluation of
excavation characteristics.
- Geology: Studies of deformation at high temperature and pressure.
3. Give the different applications of rock mechanics in the field of civil engineering.
- Surface Structure are structural elements that are able to transfer load basically
through membrane stresses. Surface structures have small thickness compare to their
other dimensions. The examples are Low rise (housing), High rise (tower) and High
load (dams).
- Transportation Routes are the regular path that is followed by a movement of
people or goods. For examples are highway/railway, canals and pipelines.
- Shallow Excavation is defined as being anything less than 1.5 metres deep, which is
not very deep; a relatively short person could comfortably see over the top. For
example quarries, strip mines and trenches.
- Deep Excavation is defined as being any excavation which is more than 4.5 metres
in depth and considerable a height indeed. Like mines, tunnels and underground
chambers (power stations, storage).
- Energy Development is defined as the development of obtaining, distributing, and
exploiting the energy sector and is based on sustainability principles. Like petroleum,
geothermal and nuclear (power plant and waste disposal).
4. Give and define each mechanical characteristics of rocks.

- Density is the term for how heavy an object is for its size. Density is usually
expressed in units like grams per cubic centimeter (g/cc or g/cm3), kilograms per
cubic meter, and pounds per cubic inch. Rocks considerably in high density, so the
density of a rock is often a good identification tool and useful for distinguishing.
PRINCESS NINFA M. MACAILING
BSCE 2A
- Specific Gravity is the ratio of the mass (weight) of a rock to the mass of the same
volume of water. Water has a density of 1.0 g/cm3, so the numeric value of specific
gravity for a rock is the same as that for density. Specific gravity is a ratio, so it has
no unit. It is also easier to measure than density.
- Strength of a material defined as the lode under which the material cracked and
disintegrated. The experimental definition of strength is determined by increasing the
lode observing at the point at which the first crack appeared. Obviously that criteria
can’t applied to a piece of rocks which is completely surrounded by other rock at the
depth in the earth’s crust.
- Strain is the deformation cause by the stress, strain may be dilation which is a change
in volume or distortion which change in the form or both. The application of stress to
a material causes it to deform. Axial strain is the deformation along the direction
loading. Lateral strain is the lateral extension perpendicular to the direction of
loading. Poisson’s ratio is the lateral strain divided by axial strain.
- Stress is force per unit area acting on a plane at any point within a material. There are
three types of stress. Compressive stress is an equal forces that act towards a point
from opposite directions. Tensile stress is an equal forces that pull away from each
other. Shear stress is an equal forces that operate in opposite directions across the
body.
- Porosity is an index of the amount of the groundwater that can be stored in the
saturated formation. Porosity is the ratio between the total voids or pores of particular
rocks to the total volume of the same rocks. It is usually expressed in percentage of
the bulk volume of the rocks. There are two types of porosity. Primary porosity,
before the formation and secondary porosity, after the formation.
- Permeability is the capacity of porous medium to transmit water or liquid in other
words, a relative easy to flow of a liquid under unequal pressure. It’s a factor how a
rock will act as a source of water for a well. A rock permeable when the rock has got
many connected pore space.

Rock Mechanics

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Rock Mechanics

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PRINCESS NINFA M.

1. What is rock mechanics?

2. What are the scope of rock mechanics? Explain each scope.

4. Give and define each mechanical characteristics of rocks.

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